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The "hair of the dog" could really be the best hangover cure, according to a new book examining the science of alcohol.

Devotees of the bacon sandwich, rehydration solutions and painkillers may be surprised to learn that drinking more after a heavy night could provide more than just a renewed level of tipsiness to stave off the pain.

Adam Rogers argues in Proof: the Science of Booze, that there could be an explanation why more alcohol relieves a hangover.

Speaking at a Google talk earlier this year, he said belief in the "hair of the dog" cure had inspired a wealth of pick-me-up cocktails like the Bloody Mary.

The most widely-held view states that hangovers are caused by dehydration but there could be another reason.

"There is a theory that says the hangover is actually the symptom of very ,very small amounts of methanol", he said.

"The notion is if a hangover is methanol toxicity, you're going to have another drink and the ethanol displaces the methanol off the enzyme and you will feel better.

"That's the hypothesis, no one has proved that."

Stressing the science is "very hypothetical", Mr Rogers said the other theory was that the high from more alcohol merely masks symptoms of a hangover and noted that people who admit to trying "hair of the dog" were statistically more likely to be alcoholics.

All alcohol contains trace amounts of toxic methanol, he said, which can cause blindness and even death in high concentrations because the body converts it into formaldehyde.